MurderousMinds
MurderousMinds takes a deep dive into the dark world of serial killers. Each episode features an in depth analysis of some of history's most notorious murderers. We examine the impact these crimes have had on families and communities, as we attempt to gain a better understanding of what drives these individuals to do what they do. Narrated by Top5s, from the popular YouTube channel Top5s, join us as we make sense of why these individuals committed such brutal acts and discover what drives them, here on the MurderousMinds podcast.
MurderousMinds
From Millionaire to Mass Murderer: Stephen Paddock | The MurderousMinds Podcast
Ever wondered how an affluent businessman and millionaire turned into one of the deadliest mass murderers in U.S. history? We dare you to join us as we untangle the enigma that is Stephen Paddock, tracing his roots back to a notorious bank robber for a father and a struggling mother. This episode uncovers the layers of Paddock's life, from his unusual upbringing to his unexpected descent into despair.
We’ll guide you through Paddock's perplexing life, scrutinizing his relationships, interests, and even his peculiar fascination with firearms. Brace yourself as we reveal his spiraling downfall marked by dwindling gambling profits and an alarming accumulation of firearms. Unearth the chilling details of his actions leading up to the horrifying incident on October 1st, 2017, as we piece together the puzzle of his drastic transformation.
The final part of our conversation dives into the aftermath of the Las Vegas massacre. From the painstaking task of collecting victims' personal effects to the intensive FBI investigation into Paddock's motives, we leave no stone unturned. We conclude with a discussion on the legal implications, charges against an Arizona ammunition dealer, and the federal ban on bump stocks. Join us on this harrowing journey as we attempt to comprehend the factors that led to this catastrophic act of violence.
From murderers to money launderers, thieves to thugs – police officers from the...
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Thank you for tuning in to MurderousMinds, the chilling true crime podcast that delves deep into the darkest minds. Join us as we explore the captivating stories of notorious killers, analyze their motives, and unravel the mysteries behind their heinous acts. Stay connected with us on Patreon for updates, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes insights. Remember, listener discretion is advised.
Welcome to Murderous Minds, a documentary series started by the Top 5's YouTube channel back in 2018, dedicated to exploring the twisted minds of serial killers. The following podcast episode is the audio version of our video series over on the Top 5's Patreon page. If you would like to watch the video instead of just listening, and would also like to support our show, then please head on over to Patreon using the link in the show notes. Thank you for joining, and now let's take a journey into the minds of Murderous. In this episode of Murderous Minds, we look at Stephen Paddock, a man who, for no apparent reason, opened fire from his hotel room in Las Vegas on 22,000 concert tours attending the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival. Until the day, he slaughtered 59 innocent citizens and injured 867,. He had never had any run-ins with the law, apart from a minor traffic violation. He had a few quirks, as everyone does. Yet he was considered a harmless and inconspicuous man by those who knew him, who overnight mutated into a monstrous mass murderer. He is possibly the most unlikely serial killer we have ever featured. There were no red flags, no abused childhood and no way of knowing that the 64-year-old millionaire would commit the deadliest mass shooting in United States history. Here we look at Stephen Paddock's life, from his tough childhood to his success and immense wealth and finally his totally unexpected and inexplicable actions on October 1st 2017.
Speaker 1:Stephen Craig Paddock was born on April 4th 1953, in Clinton, iowa. Stephen was the eldest of four sons, born to Dolores and Benjamin Paddock. As we mentioned in the intro, paddock had no criminal record, so was completely under the radar at the time of the attack. However, the same cannot be said for his father, who was a notorious bank robber who went by numerous nicknames, including Big Boldy, big Daddy and Chrome Known. Benjamin's life reads like a movie.
Speaker 1:Benjamin Hoskins Paddock was born in Sheboygan, wisconsin, on November 1st 1926, and as a teenager he served in the Second World War as a seaman but was dismissed after less than a year due to a discipline problem. After his service, he lived with his aunt and worked as a bus driver for the Ali Railroad Company, but was soon fired. He then moved back to his parents and worked for the Greyhound Bus Company in Chicago. In 1946, aged 19, benjamin Paddock was arrested and indicted in Chicago on several counts, among them theft of 12 automobiles, forgery of documents and imposture. He was convicted and served six years in the Illinois State Penitentiary. After Benjamin's release in 1951, he met Dolores Irene Hudson, and the pair married in 1952. In 1953, the couple's first son, stephen, was born. Strangely, on the baby's birth certificate, benjamin stated his name as Patrick Benjamin Paddock. However, not long after Stephen's birth, benjamin faced prison again and he was sentenced to four years, again in Illinois State Penitentiary. So for the first three years of Stephen's life it was just him and his mother.
Speaker 1:Benjamin was paroled in August 1956 and the family moved to Tuscan, arizona. Possibly to escape the stigma now attached to Benjamin and make a fresh start, the Paddock family bought a pink-painted ranch-style bungalow with four bedrooms, surrounded by cactuses and desert shrubs. As well as the house, benjamin purchased a gas station situated on the same street. From the age of three to seven years old, young Stephen had a more settled, conventional family life with mother, father and child all living together. These four years were the only ones in his life he spent in the framework of an outwardly normal family and for the first time Benjamin appeared to be earning an honest living. Soon he was running two gas stations in Tuscan and also working for the Arizona Disposer Company where he sold waste containers. Now settled into married life. Dolores, in close succession, gave birth to three more sons Patrick Benjamin in 1957, Bruce Douglas in 1959, and Eric Hudson in 1960.
Speaker 1:By the time Eric was born, benjamin had returned to his criminal ways and had robbed the Valley National Bank in Phoenix, arizona, cashing in over $11,000. He appeared to get away with the crime, so a year later, benjamin equipped himself with a handgun and drove down to Phoenix to rob another branch office of the same bank. This time he netted over $9,000. So far, benjamin had got away with two armed bank robberies, but his luck was about to run out. On July 26th 1960, once again, he drove from Tuscan to Phoenix, where he forced a bank employee at gunpoint to hand over cash. He escaped with $4,620 and drove off in his car, planning to try and increase his haul by gambling in the casinos of Las Vegas. However, an employee of the bank he had just robbed followed Benjamin as he made his getaway and alerted the police, who confronted him at a gas station in Las Vegas. After a scuffle and a search of his car, the loot and a loaded weapon were found. The police later turned up at the paddock's home and searched every inch of it, whilst the children watched on, although it would only have been Stephen who understood what was happening. Benjamin was arrested and charged, and in January 1961 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Speaker 1:Dolores Paddock decided to hide the truth from her children and instead told them their father had died and was never to return. She made the children believe their father had been killed in an accident at work. Dolores then moved herself and the boys to Sun Valley, california, in an attempt to hide the truth of Benjamin's whereabouts. Only Stephen would have been old enough to question why there was no funeral and why there was no grave to visit To their children. Their father was gone and for Stephen, the only one with any memories of this time, it was the end of his relationship with his father. Bringing up a family on her own was a struggle for Dolores, and she had a hard time paying the bills. As the sole earner of five, they lived on the brink of poverty and the boys often quarreled with each other over who would have the whole milk and not the cheaper drink mixed from cheap powdered milk, which was their more common diet. Oddly, dolores did not divorce her husband while he was incarcerated, and only later in life did she re-adopter and made a name of Hudson.
Speaker 1:On December 31st 1968, benjamin Paddock escaped from prison. He initially fled to California where he must have known his wife and sons lived. However, apparently he did not head for the Los Angeles area but to San Francisco where he robbed another bank. After unsuccessful attempts by law enforcement to recapture Benjamin, his face appeared on an FBI top 10 most wanted poster and his photograph and a description showed up in the media throughout the country. At the time, stephen Paddock was 15 years old, a confusing time for any child. But this must have been compounded by the realisation that the father he believed was dead was still very much alive and on the run. There would have also been intense scrutiny of the family at the time by law enforcement. However, there is no evidence that Benjamin ever attempted to return to his wife and children, although they all would have seen in the press the FBI profile of their father that described him as a psychopath who carried firearms, had suicidal tendencies and was dangerous. If that wasn't enough for Stephen to cope with, he also lost his maternal grandfather and his paternal grandmother the same year, although it is unclear how close he was to them. The shock for all the Paddock children would have been immense, but in particular for Stephen, because he was the only one with clear memories for his father.
Speaker 1:Over the next 10 years, benjamin Paddock managed to remain undetected. In fact, he entered a new lucrative existence under an assumed name. He now lived in Springfield, oregon, and was known as Bruce Warner Erickson. However, in September 1978, his disguise had been rumbled when an FBI agent who saw a photograph of him in a local paper recognised him. Benjamin was again arrested and detained, but because he confessed and 1600 Springfield residents signed a petition for his release, the judge let him off the hook and he was released on parole, it appeared. Bingo Bruce, as he became known, was popular and respected in the community and was known for his charitable work with troubled teenagers. Although it does seem strange that a man who found time to help out troubled children all but abandoned his own, he is quoted to have said my name is Erickson. Now Paddock is dead. To him, his past was simply buried, just as his wife had buried him, with a lie about his death. Of course, the people of this statement would impact the most were his four children, who must have been deeply confused about the whole situation.
Speaker 1:Stephen attended Richard E Byrd Middle School and Sun Valley High School and in 1971 graduated from John H Francis Polytechnic High School. Stephen was described by those who remembered him at school as intelligent but single-minded. What Stephen wanted to do, stephen did regardless of the consequences. However, he was never in trouble with the law growing up and did not appear to be a troubled child, although from a young age it seemed he was determined to get out of the poverty he had been brought up in and was set on bettering himself in life. He won a place at the California State University, northridge, which he paid for by working nights at an airport, and in 1977 he graduated with a degree in business administration.
Speaker 1:During Stephen's early working life, he worked for the Internal Revenue Service and later as an auditor for Boeing and the Lockheed Martin Group. But he was always looking at ways to make money and by his mid-30s he had accumulated enough money to get into property development. When he quit his job in 1988, he took a risk by purchasing a block of 30 units close to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. This proved to be an excellent investment and Stephen doubled his money. He went on to purchase similar properties in Texas, nevada and California, and in 2012 he sold his Nevada property and pocketed a cool $8.3 million. It's worth pointing out that Stephen made his money fair and square.
Speaker 1:He was a good landlord and looked after his tenants and was never involved in any scrupulous practices, although he was known to be a shrewd negotiator and stood his ground when negotiating prices on his deals, even though, to look at him, he dressed nothing like a businessman and would often turn up for deals dressed in sweats and sandals. Anyone who ever rented from him agreed that he went out of his way to make sure his tenants were happy and kept their rents to a minimum. He was a hands-on landlord and his tenants were on first name terms with him. He also looked after his family and bought his mom a nice house as a thank you for her lifetime struggle to bring him and his siblings up. There was, however, an almost obsessive nature about how he managed his properties. He never hired agents to oversee his developments. He chose to do it himself. His mindset was no one could do it as good as him, and he would get frustrated if people did stupid things or didn't agree with him. He demonstrated this intolerance in 1990s when, during the riots of Los Angeles, he staunchly defended one of his properties by climbing on top of the apartment building dressed in a flak jacket and armed with a rifle, fully prepared to use it if anyone attempted to damage his property.
Speaker 1:Stephen Paddock married twice, the first time on July 17, 1977, to Sharon Brunela, a friend from college. The marriage ended in divorce two years later, the second time on March 9th 1985, this time to Peggy R Okamoto. This marriage also ended in divorce in 1990. Both marriages remained childless and very few details are known about either of his wives, apart from his second marriage ended due to irreconcilable differences. Although his first wife's brother remembered Stephen as a smart, funny guy who entertained the family on his boat and seemed just a normal good man, many members say he stayed on good terms with both his ex-wives.
Speaker 1:Like his father, stephen was a gambler, but unlike his father, who was a social bridge and bingo player, stephen preferred the isolated battle against the machine. He was an expert at video poker. He meticulously worked out the house advantage of machines and would often play the same machine for hours on end to learn its history. After his marriages ended, stephen spent more and more time in casinos. He liked the attention he was afforded at these establishments and love being waited on. He was a wealthy man and liked the respect that earned him. He ate the best food and drank the best wine.
Speaker 1:Stephen usually gambled on his own, but would sometimes treat his brother, eric and his children to a high-end hotel for a gambling weekend. It's estimated Stephen had a $1 million yearly budget for gambling. He was considered a mid-level high roller, meaning he was prepared to lose up to $100,000 per session. It is thought that he was a clever gambler, though, and for many years made a lot of money from it. Paddock also took advantage of the hostesses, escort ladies and prostitutes linked to the flamboyant casino climate. Some of these women were interviewed after the massacre and, if their statements are true, they portrayed a disturbing picture of a derailed life. They claimed Paddock preferred violent sex practices and fantasized about bondage and tying up women. He was also said to have boasted that he was the son of a famous bank robber and to have told them that he had inherited his father's dispositions, saying I have bad blood, I was born bad. However, how many of these claims are true is unknown. His favourite casinos were the Mandalay and Bolígo in Las Vegas, both high-end establishments.
Speaker 1:In 2013, as he neared retirement, he brought his young brother, eric, into his business, as he concentrated his efforts on gambling, and he often referred to himself as a professional gambler. As well as gambling, stephen had a passion for flying planes and he gained his private pilot's license in 2008 that enabled him to fly small single-engine land planes. He also took a special exam for poor visibility flights. Stephen owned two planes, although it is believed his license lapsed in around 2013. In the early 1980s, stephen Paddock began to acquire firearms. This is not uncommon for a US citizen, and his family and friends were aware of his collection. He even took his younger brother, eric's children out skeet-shooting Outwardly. There was nothing unusual about Steven's interest in firearms as far as anyone else was concerned. He just kept them for recreational activities. Because he had no criminal history on any state record of any derogatory information on background checks required to purchase firearms, he could freely purchase guns with no questions asked.
Speaker 1:Throughout his working life, steven built up considerable wealth and was described as a multi-millionaire. As he moved towards retirement, he spent more and more time in the casino, and that is where he met his girlfriend, mary Lou Danly. At the time the pair met, mary Lou worked at the Atlantis Casino Resort in Renault Nevada and she had been married to her husband for over 20 years. Mary Lou was an Australian citizen, although she was born in the Philippines. She also had a daughter from a previous relationship who lived in Los Angeles. In 2013, mary Lou left her husband and moved in with Paddock, and a couple of years later she divorced her husband after 25 years of marriage.
Speaker 1:Paddock and Mary Lou were part of the social scene of the casinos and bars in Mosquit, and the pair often joined in karaoke at Peggy Sue's Bar and Diner. They would also stay in the most extravagant accommodation in Renault California and Las Vegas and, according to the Paddock's family, steven adored Mary Lou. He, in return, tolerated his quirks, in particular, his germ allergy. Paddock had developed germophobia and was allergic to chemical smells and medications, so much so that Mary Lou stopped wearing makeup, perfume and hairspray to accommodate his allergies and increasing obsession with cleanliness. Paddock was often seen wearing black gloves to protect his hypersensitive skin. He was also fearful of medication and often refused to take any, even if he needed it. Paddock also had a distinct aversion to being photographed, as well as a dislike of chatting on the phone. Hence the reason most of his contact in later years was by text and there are very little photographs of him. He also had no social media accounts.
Speaker 1:It seemed that Mary Lou and Paddock were chalk and cheese. She was very outgoing and friendly and loved to sing and dance, where he was very introverted, emotionless, and some described him as standoffish and unfriendly. There are conflicting stories about how Paddock treated Mary Lou, with some claiming he often berated and verbally abused her, although this cannot be confirmed. Despite this, the couple travelled extensively together and went on at least nine luxury cruises visiting several foreign ports, including Spain, italy, greece, jordan and United Arab Emirates, as well as visiting the Philippines in 2013 and 14. Prior to meeting Mary Lou, paddock had already been on 11 cruises to various places in the world.
Speaker 1:Stephen never seemed to settle anywhere he could call home. He moved from property to property. The list of his residences as an adult include more than three dozen addresses in California, florida, texas and Nevada. None of his neighbours ever got close enough to him to really know who he was. He often stayed in hotels and moved on frequently. In 2013, as he neared his 60s, he lived in a retirement community in Malbourne, florida. In 2015, he decided to swap the ocean air of Florida, where he lived close to his brother, eric, and mother for the dry desert climate of Nevada, where he spent most of his time anyway.
Speaker 1:He bought himself a retirement house in Bablingbrook Court, mesquite, nevada, for which he paid $369,000 in cash. He lived in the house with Mary Lou. However, for much of the time the house was vacant, as he was either travelling or staying elsewhere. It seemed he much preferred to stay in casino hotels rather than live in his own home. Neighbours remembered that the couple kept their blinds constantly closed. However, they had noticed on the times he opened his garage doors that he had a large safe in there, the size of a refrigerator. He also showed a friend a gun room he had in his home and told him it was his hobby that needed protecting. Paddock was known to have supported his Second Amendment rights under the United States Constitution and had exceptional knowledge on the bill that protects the rights of citizens to bear arms or own weapons such as guns. Another thing he did was have a net privacy screen erected around the outside of his house. However, he was forced to take it down after the neighbours complained.
Speaker 1:Although Paddock had been a successful gambler for nearly 25 years, winning at Videopoker became more and more difficult as time went on, especially in the Las Vegas machines, where casinos had added a better house advantage, meaning machines odds began to change, and not in favour of the punter. In 2015, paddock had made $5 million, mostly from gambling. However, in the two years that followed, his profit dropped by $1.5 million. Despite this dip in profits, paddock was still an incredibly wealthy man who lived the high life. He was using this wealth to build up a huge stockpile of expensive firearms. He would visit various outlets of Dixie Gun Works and Gun and Guitar and legally purchase a variety of guns, mostly rifles. None of the people who sold him the guns saw any reason to doubt him or trigger a alarm about his purchases. All of the purchases were legal and cleared routine federal screening. There was one incident when Paddock asked an ammunition dealer at a Phoenix gun show if he could get him a large quantity of trace arounds, which are bullets that went fired and even illuminated trail in their path. However, the dealer didn't have the large quantity Paddock requested, although he later did manage to purchase them illegally somewhere else. What is quite tallying but wasn't picked up on is that in the year leading up to the massacre, paddock purchased 55 firearms. This was a significant increase in his lifetime of gun purchases, as between 1982 and 2016, he had only purchased a total of 29 firearms. His girlfriend did notice that he had purchased a lot of guns in a short period of time, but just thought it was for his increased interest in his hobby.
Speaker 1:In the weeks leading up to the attack, paddock bought Mary Lou a surprise airline ticket for her to travel to the Philippines to visit her family. She thought nothing of it. However. When he wired her $100,000 to buy a house out there, she thought he was breaking up with her and never for one minute thought he was planning a massacre. However, others who knew him had noticed a deterioration in his mental health in recent months. He had gained weight, often smelt of alcohol and looked increasingly dishevelled and scruffy. He had also become obsessed with Mary Lou's ex-husband. It was later revealed that in the year before the massacre, paddock had visited a doctor for medication to sedate his mind and help him sleep. He was prescribed a high dose of valium, but his fear of medication meant he had refused antidepressants but agreed to a prescription for anxiety.
Speaker 1:In the days leading up to October 1st 2017, stephen Paddock had overlapping reservations at a downtown Las Vegas condo and the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas and spent time in both locations. He also traveled to his homes in Reno, mesquite and Arizona. On September 25th he checked into the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, where he occupied a suite Because he was a high-stakes gambler. The $590 per night cost was waived by the hotel. Paddock requested a room on a higher floor, overlooking the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival on the Las Vegas Strip that was taking place from September 29th to October 1st, with over 22,000 attendees expected. On the last day, on Thursday 29th September, paddock moved into room 32135, the room that connected to his first room, 32134. Both rooms overlooked the country music festival's grounds.
Speaker 1:Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Paddock frequented the casinos and played his routine rounds of video poker. On September 30th, paddock made a noise complaint about the guests staying below him in room 31135, who were playing country music loudly. After the second request, the guests turned his music off. Throughout his stay at the Mandalay Bay, paddock ordered room service, but when he placed his order he pretended he had others in the room with him checking their orders. As he placed them, he also had the do not disturb sign on his door permanently, so no one entered his room during his stay, not even the housekeepers. This was not unusual and didn't raise any red flags with the hotel staff. He did, however, request a change of bed sheets, but was in the room as the housekeeper acted on his request. The maid later said that Paddock made her feel uncomfortable and she did wonder why he had so many suitcases in his room. He had 21 in total, containing a large supply of weapons and equipment, including firearms, ammunition, computers and video cameras. Over the course of a few days, paddock was slowly bringing the cases to his room. This didn't ring any alarm bells. After all, there would be nothing suspicious about the hotel guest carrying a suitcase to his room.
Speaker 1:On the night of October 1st 2017, paddock, dressed in black pants and black gloves, positioning himself in front of the hotel's floor to ceiling windows. He had a perfect view of the country music festival taking place below, and he would have seen the crowd enjoying themselves and swaying to the music of Jason Aldean. Pads were sitting on their parents' shoulders and everyone was having a good time. Before he struck, paddock had set up a circle of surveillance around him, with cameras outside his room and a baby camera on a service trolley so he could see if anyone approached his room. Paddock had also used tools and metal bars to barricade his hotel room door and a door to the stairwell of the 32nd floor.
Speaker 1:At 9.59pm the hotel's unarmed security guard, azus Campos, was called to the 32nd floor because a door alarm was going off. When he reached the floor he found that the door to the hallway had been screwed shut Through one of his surveillance cameras. Paddock must have seen Azus as he fired 35 rounds of gunfire through his room door as the guard tried to free the door. Azus was wounded but still managed to radio police for help. But they couldn't get there quick enough and at 10.05pm gunfire from what sounded like an automatic weapon rained down on the festival spectators below Paddock's room.
Speaker 1:Paddock shot hundreds of rounds in rapid succession using modified weapons, firing indiscriminately into the crowd of 22,000 concertgoers. He appeared to have smashed his hotel window with a hammer so he could get a better view of his targets. The relentless slaughter lasted between 9 and 11 minutes. Police frantically scrambled to reach the source of the shooting and at 10.17pm Two police officers reached the 32nd floor of the hotel. They were followed by several more officers. At 11pm the SWAT squad arrived All the other rooms in the vicinity were evacuated and the SWAT team used explosives to penetrate the door of room 32135.
Speaker 1:They found Paddock dead from a self-inflicted gunshot through his mouth. He lay in a pool of blood surrounded by spent gun cartridges. There was a note on the nightstand that investigators were hoping was a suicide note. However, instead what they found was hand-ritting calculations of the best positions to stand in the room to achieve maximum accuracy. These detailed calculations showed how determined Paddock was to kill as many people as he could, but gave no clues as to his motives. First thoughts were it was a terrorist attack.
Speaker 1:The hotel room was scattered with guns. In total, 24 were found in the suite, many of them fitted with bump stocks, an attachment that makes a semi-automatic weapon shoot nearly as fast as a fully automatic machine gun. They also found various other items, including surveillance cameras, a blue plastic hose with a funnel, a fan and scuba mouthpiece attached, a sledgehammer, laptop binoculars and spotting scope, along with thousands of rounds of ammunition. In the car park, investigators found Paddock's Chrysler Pacifica car. In it they found more ammunition and firearms, as well as equipment for making an explosive device. After searching his Mesquite home, they found a further 18 firearms, many that had been modified to make them more lethal. In Paddock's Reno home they found a further 7 firearms. However, they found no motive for why Paddock carried out such an atrocious act. They did, however, conclude that Paddock planned to survive the attack and possibly carry out more massacres using the bomb-making material and firearms he had collected.
Speaker 1:A search of his online history was disturbing and contained research on other possible targets in Chicago, boston, santa Monica and other possible places in Las Vegas. He had viewed hotels in the areas and had even made a reservation for two more rooms in the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago, across the street from where the Lala Palooza Festival was being held, although he never checked in and cancelled two days before the festival. Paddock had also rented a luxury condo in downtown Las Vegas during the Life is Beautiful Festival held between the 22nd and 24th of September. Security footage showed him taking multiple suitcases to the condo that overlooked the festival site. He also researched the number of attendees expected at both festivals, as well as the size of crowds that attended Santa Monica's Beach. His search history also showed munition and swat tactics, as well as hundreds of photographs of child pornography.
Speaker 1:In the aftermath of the tragedy, concertgoers described hearing popping noises that they initially thought were pyrotechnics. Then they realized people were being shot and they started running for their lives as shots rained down on them. Casualties fell to the floor and blood was everywhere as the crowd rushed to escape the carnage. This relentless shooting lasted 10 minutes. The casualties accumulated at an incredible rate, with bystanders rushing to tend to the injured, some who were not shot or injured, by other people trying to flee the carnage, trampled on in the stampede. People hid wherever they could, and around 300 took refuge in the nearby McCarran airport. Others hid in and under cars or anywhere else they could shelter from the bullets. There were also many acts of selfless heroism, with complete strangers stopping to help the wounded and dying. Men, women and children were amongst the initial 58 dead and 800 injured. The massacre was the US's deadliest mass shooting ever. 36 women and 22 men were killed that day, ages between 20 and 67. In total, paddock fired 1057 shots. 31 of the victims died at the scene, another 27 died in hospital and two years on from the shooting, the final victim, 57-year-old Mira Launa, who had been paralyzed in the massacre, passed away, making a total of 59 victims.
Speaker 1:In the immediate aftermath, the site was littered with personal effects, chairs and other items, a sad reminder of the lives affected by the massacre. The painstaking task of loading up the backpacks, strollers and lawn chairs began, and authorities returned as many items as they could to the families. The local hospitals were full with the victims of the atrocity and appeals were made for blood donations to treat the injured. Hundreds of people answered the call and in doing so, saved numerous lives. But still the question on everyone's lips was why.
Speaker 1:At first, the terrorism organization ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack and claimed Paddock had converted to Islam. Six months before the attack, they even published an infographic called the Invasion of Las Vegas in their weekly Al-Nabba online magazine, which detailed how they coordinated the attack. However, the FBI could find no evidence or connection between Stephen Paddock and ISIS, and they later dismissed these claims. It's worth pointing out it wasn't the first time ISIS had taken responsibility for an unrelated terrorist attack on innocent American citizens. In fact, they found no links to any extremist groups or terrorist organizations, and Paddock was not vocal about any of his political views.
Speaker 1:Initially, they thought he had an accomplice. However, after their investigation was complete, it became clear he acted alone and there was no indication that anyone other than him knew what he was planning. It also became clear from the stockpile of weapons they found at his homes and in his car that his actions were not a snap decision. Instead, he had been planning a mass shooting for some time and was very calculated in his activities. Leading up to the attack, he callously searched for venues that attracted the biggest crowds so he could kill as many people as he could in one go. There were, of course, questions as to how Paddock was able to shoot into the crowd for 10 minutes, even though police had already been alerted after Hazus Campo was shot and he could have carried on, because police didn't arrive on the 32nd floor until 10.18, 8 minutes after Paddock had stopped shooting. No one knows why Paddock stopped, as he had enough ammunition to carry on, although it has been suggested he did plan to escape. Hazus Campo might have thought of that plan, as Campo's appearance, which was pure coincidence, would have undoubtedly blocked Paddock's escape route, but we will never know why Paddock decided to stop.
Speaker 1:The full investigation into the mass shooting lasted a year, yet many unanswered questions remained and still do to this day. Major analysis working for the FBI could not find a single or clear motive for Paddock's actions. They concluded he may have had some financial difficulties and was struggling with getting older, but so did most of the population. In most mass killings there is a clear motive, usually found in a suicide note, a person's past or social media interaction, even a phone call or demeanor change. But this was not the case with Paddock, and despite chasing thousands of leads, watching hours worth of CCTV and interviewing anyone who had ever encountered Paddock, they could not piece together a reason for the horrific attack.
Speaker 1:In the end, it seemed, one of the coldest blooded killers in American history was a retired self-made millionaire who loved the high life and liked to gamble his days away. Not really the profile of a serial killer, but he was one nonetheless. With no motive for the senseless killing of their loved ones, the victims' families have no closure, no reason why their souls were ripped out that day. Paddock was not a madman. He was not mentally unstable, apart from his anxiety, he was an ordinary wealthy man who, for some unfathomable reason, plotted to kill as many innocent strangers as he possibly could in one random act of slaughter. Perhaps because of this, stephen Paddock is the deadliest of all the murderers we have covered so far, and only he knows why he acted the way he did and, like his many victims, he is not here to tell the tale.
Speaker 1:No one saw any red flags. Slightly odd is about the only derogatory comment about Stephen Paddock. He had no history of violence, no political affiliation, no mental health issues beyond a fear of germs and some anxiety. Stephen Paddock seemed to have made no attempt to justify his actions. There was no manifesto or farewell letter, and he left no will. There is no way anyone could have known what was going on in his head and that one day he would be responsible for the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in US history.
Speaker 1:In the wake of the shooting, stephen's younger brother, eric Paddock, was interviewed on TV, and this is what he said In another interview with Eric he is visibly angry and distraught, in utter disbelief that his brother was responsible for such a tragedy. In the days and weeks after the massacre, the siblings, the girlfriend and his former neighbours were pressured by the media to come up with something to indicate what he was going to do, but nothing surfaced. An autopsy of Stephen Paddock's body revealed he had died from a single self-inflicted gunshot to the head. A further study of his brain showed he had no neurological disorders that would have caused him to act the way he did. He did have slight changes in his brain that are commonly seen in the amount of his age, but there was nothing that could explain why Mr Paddock became a calculated mass killer. His body was later cremated and his ashes were given to his brother, eric. They are currently stored in a safety deposit box in a bank at an undisclosed location.
Speaker 1:The only person charged with anything in connection to the shooting was Douglas Hague, an Arizona ammunition dealer, who, on February 2nd 2018, was charged with conspiracy to manufacture and sell armor-piercing ammunition without a licence. After his fingerprints were discovered on unfired armor-piercing ammunition inside Paddock's hotel suite in June 2020, hague was sentenced to 13 months in prison. During the shooting, the legality of bump stocks which Paddock used on his gun came under question and several states passed legislation restricting ownership of bump stocks. In December 2018, the US Justice Department banned them at the federal level. We have no conclusion to this episode.
Speaker 1:Usually, there is a pattern that becomes clear throughout a serial killer's life, but, apart from the trouble with his father, there doesn't seem to be anything obvious about Stephen Paddock that would cause him to randomly kill 59 innocent people. He lived a life that most of us can only dream of. He was wealthy, successful and loved by his family. Being a little odd and single-minded does not make you a serial killer, and we may never know why a 64-year-old retired man decided he wanted to eradicate a crowd of people enjoying a country music festival. Our heart truly goes out to all the family and friends affected by the tragedy, and we can only hope that it never happens again.